ARC Rolls In

 American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier is an operator of nine Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) ships flying the flag of the United States. The company is part of the Norwegian Wilhelmsen Group and the ships come from the Wallenius Wilhelmsen fleet. As the ships are not built in the United States they are excluded from trade between US ports by the cabotage rules under the Jones Act. However they do employ American crews and are given preferential treatment for carrying US government (including military) cargoes internationally.The company also participates in the Vountary International Sealift Program (VISA).

Today, June 9, the ARC Commitment arrived in Halifax from Zeebrugge, Belgium, initially with vehicles for Autoport. It is expected to shift to Richmond Terminals, Pier 9C, tomorrow to off load RoRo cargo.

Getting in just ahead of the rain, the ship was met by the tugs Atlantic Bear and Atlantic Beaver.

The ARC Commitment was built in 2011 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engieering Co in Okpo. The 74,255 gt, 31,143 dwt ship has a capacity of 7,843 RT43 size cars and uses a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp. It also has a small side ramp. The ship entered service as the Tiger and was painted in the traditional Wilhelmsen red/orange hull colour. 

As the Tiger the ship called on Autoport in 2018.

(There is a pile driver working on the McAsphalt jetty.)

Swedish rival Wallenius Lines joined forces with Wilhelmsen in 1999, and formed Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. The two companies kept their distinctive identities, and colour schemes, for a time, but eventually formed Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean and adopted a new common hull colour. They did maintain the individual company naming schemes: Wilhelmsen names begining with T and Wallenius using operatic names. Wallenius also uses operatic names begining with T to add to the confusion. Ships are also owned individually by the lines, not jointly.

When ARC took over the Tiger they repainted it with a blue hull and white "ARC" label, but kept the name Tiger until 2021. (It is still shown as "Tiger" in Wilhelmsen's on-line fleet list.) This suggests that the arrangement with ARC is a bareboat charter.

By December 6, 2021 the ship had been repainted, but not renamed.

The normal port rotation for ARC ships is Bremerhaven, Antwerp, Southampton, Zeebrugge, Baltimore, Brunswick, Galveston and Altamira. Halifax is apparently an optional port. By the time the ship completes offloading here, the Port of Baltimore may be completely accessible to large ships again. It is reported to be partly accessible after debris from the collapsed bridge and the damaged container ship have now been removed from the main channel.

The tugs are made fast to recessed hull bollards and are ready to turn the ship past Ives Knoll for Eastern Passage and Autoport.

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Storm Over

 A reprieve, maybe short lived, from bad weather allowed for things to return to normal in the harbour today, December 7, with only a bit of swell remaining after last night's rain, thunder, lightning and wind. 

The high winds delayed the scheduled move of the American Roll-On Roll Off Carriers ship Tiger from Autoport to Pier 27 from yesterday afternoon until this morning. The ship was then able to unload its RoRo cargo and sail for New York without further delay at 1300 today.

On its way outbound, accompanied by the pilot boat Capt E.T.Rogers off its bow, it passsed the lobster boat Knot Lookin' Back out of Portuguese Cove. 

The start of the local lobster season was delayed from November 30 until December 1, due to bad weather. Fishers traditionally load their boats high with all their traps for "dumping day" and risk serious accidents and capsizing if the weather is bad. They all want to get their traps in the water as soon as possible, and claim their own "patch".

Knot Lookin' Back was built in 2018 by Hustler's Fibreglass Boats Ltd of Bloomfield, NS and features a port side shelter of translucent material. It appeared to be tending traps and placing new traps for the first time between Black Rock Beach (Point Pleasant Park) and PSA Halifax Pier 42. (Several traps were poised on the ship's rail ready to "launch").

At PSA Halifax Tropical Shipping's Tropical Lissette was finishing up its loading.

 The ship arrived yesterday morning, December 6, and was scheduled to sail last evening, but was delayed until this morning when high winds prevented the cranes from operating.

 Also in port, likely to shelter from bad weather, is the oil pollution clean up barge Fundy Responder which arrived from Saint John, NB in tow of the Atlasntic Larch on Sunday, December 5.

 

The barge was built in 1974 in Singapore as the AN 2803 and arrived in Canada in 1979 when Atlantic Towing acquired the tug Irving Teak (later Atlantic Teak and since scrapped) also from Singapore. It was renamed Irving Seal in 1980, then Seal VII in 1990 and got its present name in 2000.

It is owned by Atlantic Towing Ltd and works for Irving Oil as part of the Atlantic Emergency Response Team (ALERT) Inc, which is responsible for the oil industry voluntary pollution control program in the Bay of Fundy. They maintain a 10,000 tonne capacity for spill cleanup.

ALERT works with the Eastern Canada Response Corp (ECRC) which maintains a fleet of pollution control and cleanup craft in ports around the region. Halifax used to have a similar barge on standby in the harbour, but it was removed in 2018. After Imperial Oil closed its refinery, the risk of a large spill was greatly reduced.

The pollution cleanup barge John P. Oxley was towed out of Halifax for Sydney, NS by the tug Lois M June 9, 2018.

 Some ships that had been waiting offshore will now be arriving later in the day, including EM Kea for Maersk/CMA CGM transatlantic service and CMA CGM A.Lincoln for the Ocean Alliance Asia-North America loop.

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No Stripes on this Tiger

 The autocarrier Tiger arrived early this morning (December 6) and tied up at Autoport to offload cars. It is scheduled to move over to Pier 27 later this afternoon to work non-auto "high and heavy" RoRo cargo. [Its customary berth at Pier 31 is occupied by Augusta Luna which is unloading nickel sulphides from Cuba.]

Despite carrying a Wilhelmsen name (beginning with the letter "T") and sailing under Malta registry the ship appeared in ARC (Atlantic Roll-on Roll-off Carrier) livery. ARC is a Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) subsidiary headquartered in the United States and operating eight US flagged autocarriers. ARC's web site makes no mention of this ship or other non-US flag ships.

ARC's US flag ships have preference for US government contracts to transport vehicles and other cargoes. The company recently lost a contract for transporting military personnel household goods (it is appealing the award). 

Tiger is owned by Wilhelmsen Lines Shipowning, is managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management, and  operates as a regular member of the combined Wallenius Wilhelmsen fleet. All the WWL entities, including EUKOR and United European Car Carriers appear have pooled their ships for operating efficiency. So there is no apparent reason why this ship should carry ARC paint unless there is a plan to transfer it to US flag.

Tiger was built in 2011 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co in Okpo, South Korea. A 74,255 gt ship of 31,143 dwt it has a large capacity of 7,934 autos and is equipped with a 320 tonne capacity stern ramp for heavy cargo. It also has the customary, but little used side ramp.

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Early morning in Halifax harbour can be quite spectacular....

At 0800 hrs the sun began to show above some cloud behind Macnab's Island.

However it does make it nearly impossible to photograph inbound ships from the Halifax side of the harbour. Nevertheless I made an effort to catch Jennifer Schepers as it made its way to Halterm for ZIM. It is one of the line's two feeder ships that make a weekly run from Halifax to the Kingston, Jamaica hub to connect with other ZIM services.  

Distortion and refraction makes the ship's hull appear higher than it is.

Jennifer Schepers was launched in 2009 as Mistral Strait by Taizhou Kouan Shipbuilding Company in Taizhou (part of the China Commerce Group.) It was immediately renamed BF Copocabana, and carried that name until 2016.  The 21,018 grt, 25,775 dwt ship can carry 1795 TEU (including 319 reefers) and carries a pair of 45 tonne cranes. In 2016 owners became HS Schiffahrts of Ems, Germany and the ship was renamed Jennifer Schepers. The Schepers family has operated in shipping since ca. 1858 when Capt. Heinrich Schepers acquired his first vessel. The fourth and fifth generations of the family run the concern today.
Earlier this year they combined with five other companies to jointly market their container feeders under the Arkon Allied Container (AAC) brand, but the owners remain independent.

 A construction crane is set up to work on the McAsphalt jetty adjacent to Autoport.

An earlier arrival was Wilhelm Wilhelmsen's Tiger at Autoport. Arriving before sunup, it required a trip to Dartmouth to catch the ship in more favourable light. The 74,255 gt, 30,140 dwt ship, built by Daewoo, Okpo in 2011 is a 7th generation autocarrier of the 7800 CEU class, but capacity is quoted as 7,934 cars.
 

Irving Willow pushes up on the bow to bring the tanker alongside Irving Oil's Woodside terminal with a cargo loaded in Amsterdam..

Staying with the large African feline theme, BW Lioness arrived with the sun behind it at Irving Oil, and could only be photographed decently from Dartmouth. It is a fairly typical tanker of 29,737 gt, 49,999 dwt, built in 2014 by SPP Shipbuilding Co in Geosong and originally named Elandra Lion.

It changed owners (and gender) in 2014 when the BW Group acquired ten product tankers from the Elandra Tankers fleet and in 2016 formed BW Tankers as a separate product tanker company within the BW Group, with financial partner PAG.

BW was formed in 2003 when World Wide Steamship Company (founded in the 1960s by Sir Yue-Kong Pao) acquired Bergeson d.y. ASA of Stavanger, Norway and formed Bergeson Word-Wide , abbreviated to BW. The result is a conglomerate of companies in tanker and drybulk shipping and offshore floating structures. BW Tankers alone has more than 50 product tankers, but the total BW fleet includes about 300 ships, many of which are crude oil and gas tankers operating in their own fleets such as BW LPG and BW LNG.

 The Bergeson Word-Wide initials are prominent on the funnel and hull stripe.

Early in 2019 a merger with Hafnia Tankers is expected to be finalized. Hafnia based in Denmark by former Torm exectives, has 37 product tankers in its fleet. The resulting 86 ship product tanker fleet will be one of the largest in the world. At the same time BW may be selling off its 15 chemical tankers.

BW's chemical and other tankers have green hulls. Bulkers and some product tankers have blue.

BW Osprey seen here on the St.Lawrence is one of 22 Medium Range (49,999 dwt) tankers in the fleet. The colours of the hull strip are reversed blue for green.

BW tankers are noted for their elaborate colour scheme, unlike many other tanker operators in the word. A case in point is Star I which arrived last night for Imperial Oil.

Star I , operated by Scorpio [see the recent takeover of Nordic American Offshore by Scorpio Offshore, thwarting Horizon Offshore's bid] , is a 23,248 gt, 37,900 dwt product tanker from Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan. Built in 2007 as Alcor for Turkish operators, it was renamed in 2013. The ship has been in Halifax several times since 2015 bringing in refined product for Irving Oil and for Imperial Oil. On this trip its last port is given as Baton Rouge, LA.


 
 

Tiger - a Wilhelmsen giant

Wilhelmsen's Tiger made its second call in Halifax today. The first was March 1, 2016, but on that occasion it did not manage to pass my camera.

 Atlantic Oak follows the ship out to Ives Knoll, but did not have a line up. - it was just going to pier 41.

A 7th generation Daewoo car carrier design, it was built in 2011 by Daewoo's Okpo shipyard. At 74,255 grt, 30,140 dwt, it has a capacity of no less than 7,934 cars. Newer ships can carry more than 8,000.

Fitted for carriage of other roll-on, roll-off cargo, it first unloaded at pier 31 yesterday before moving to Autoport overnight. It's stern ramp is rated for 320 tonnes, so it can handle some pretty large rolling loads.

Scotia Pilot is smothered in spray as it paces the ship outbound.

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